Monthly Archives: March 2014

Today we watch Joseph make his final moves in this chess game he’s been playing with his brothers.

And in this passage I think I see a couple of Joseph’s goals in the game. These are just my thoughts.

(1) I think he wanted to see if the brothers would take their grain and run back home when Benjamin got caught with the silver cup. It was the perfect opportunity for them to ditch him in Egypt and go back home with a great excuse of why he wasn’t with them. Of course, Judah would have had to pay the price since he was the one who told Dad he would be responsible for bringing Benjamin back. But, hey! At least they would be back home, with grain so they wouldn’t starve, and they would be minus one more spoiled half-brother.

But they didn’t do that. In fact, they came across like they really cared about Benjamin. They didn’t let him go back to Joseph’s house to face the music alone. They all went back with him. In fact, their plan was to all go back to Joseph’s as slaves.

(2) In order to be sure Benjamin was safe from the half-brothers, Joseph maneuvered the situation so that Benjamin was ‘guilty’ of stealing from Joseph and would have to stay in Egypt.

But again, the brothers come through. If Benjamin stays, they’re all staying. And when Judah shares his story with Joseph and talks about their father and how he thinks Joseph was torn to pieces and how much pain losing Benjamin would cause him, I think Joseph is convinced Judah really does care about their father. Especially when he offers to take Benjamin’s place as a slave in Egypt so that their father doesn’t have to grieve another son.

Truths I See:

– Our real character is revealed when we’re given an opportunity to bail out of a bad situation. Sticking around when we don’t have to and standing up for someone who’s been unjustly accused shows character.

– People can change. But when we’ve hurt someone (or when someone has hurt us), it takes time to prove there’s been real change. It’s a lot easier to maintain trust that it is to rebuild it.

Application Questions:

– When has my character been revealed lately? What did it look like?

– Whose trust do I need to re-earn? Who needs to re-earn mine?

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Genesis 44:1-34 / New International Version (NIV)

44 Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack.2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said.

3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’”

6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them.7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that!8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.”

11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.12 Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.

14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him.15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”

16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.”

17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”

18 Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’20 And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

21 “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’22 And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.

25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

27 “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.28 One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since.29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’

30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,31 sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’

33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”